A beginning and an ending; an invitation and blessing.\u00a0 I am called into a very specific area of life where I help people come face to face with their own mortality, their own disappointments on a life not lived or as accomplished as they hoped, or relationships broken.\u00a0 I know, I know, I\u2019m Dr. Death.\u00a0 As I consider what a lowly Chaplain can do to speak into a system as large, as broken, as money driven, as science and cure driven as healthcare, I want to give up.\u00a0 Our healthcare requires we address everyone\u2019s spirituality, but spiritual care is often an afterthought.\u00a0 In a seminary program like ours, I am a Christian, I am a seminary grad working in a vocational ministry calling in a very secular workspace\u2026it weird and disorienting.\u00a0 I\u2019m in a ministry position, fighting for a leadership role in a non-ministry setting by gaining leadership learnings from a seminary!\u00a0 Ahh!\u00a0 I know you all know all of this as my cohort, but every once in a while, I have to sit back and say, \u201cwhat am I doing and here comes the imposter syndrome\u201d. My leadership has taken a hit this last year, it\u2019s been overrun by personality and the horrible balance of wanting to be a relational leader who mentors and invests in helping my employees be the best versions of themselves and finding out I\u2019ve been run over by them when things don\u2019t go their way.<\/p>\n
Jules Glanzer\u2019s book The Sound of Leadership <\/em>was the perfect gift to me in this time, and unfortunately, I couldn\u2019t read cover to cover, (yet), but man did I feel so many zingers of connection with what he had to say.\u00a0 Jules gave us 5 words in the beginning of the book that speaks into toward leadership: \u201cListen, See, Learn, Do, Love[1]<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 Such 5 simple words and yet are so profound.\u00a0 What an invocation into Leadership.\u00a0 He then wrote a postscript, Reprise; Sovereign leadership lessons from Covid-19<\/em>[2]<\/a>;<\/em> in this reprise he gave 5 more words that spoke to him as he fought the battle of Covid, \u201c<\/em>Contentment, gratitude, simplicity, smallness and focus\u201d[3]<\/a>. These words are the blessing to the invitation of his first 5 words.<\/p>\n When I am helping others come to terms with end of life, after many of them have been through suffering, pain, treatments, and grasping to hope.\u00a0 When I am invited in to talk with them and the family, I start at the benediction.\u00a0 I ask them to imagine their last moments on earth, in fact I invite all of you to imagine your last breath.\u00a0 Where are you?\u00a0 Who is with you?\u00a0 The answers to these questions help you live backwards.\u00a0 If the answers you want to be home with your loved ones surrounding you, then that affects the decisions you make now.\u00a0 At some point the next trip to the hospital ends up being the last trip to the hospital hooked up to life support, or wanting your loved ones surrounding you may mean that today you have to reconcile or take a step towards those who you may be split from to make amends now\u2026we cannot wait.\u00a0 We must live into our benediction to answer the invitation.<\/p>\n Jules invites us to Listen<\/strong>, \u201cleadership begins with listening, first to the voice of God and then to people\u201d[4]<\/a>.\u00a0In Julian Treasures book Being Heard<\/em>, he speaks to the power of listening; \u201cListening may be a silent skill, but it has enormous power, as we\u2019ll see in the next few pages. The quality of our listening affects our relationships, health, influence, productivity, and growth, but in our ocular society we virtually ignore this crucial skill[5]<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 Once again, we must begin by listening, lesson #1 in Leadership 101 and seemingly the hardest task for most leaders and perhaps the invitation becomes an unwelcome benediction by being the beginning of ending, the derailment\u2026they stopped listening.<\/p>\n See<\/strong> \u201cCarefully observe the various aspects of the situation and attempt to see the situation the way God sees it\u201d[6]<\/a>. \u00a0There is a lot around what we \u201csee\u201d in the world around us, and honestly a lot we don\u2019t see.\u00a0 At the beginning of our Doctorate, we read Henri Nouwen\u2019s Discernment[7]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, my favorite chapter in this book is called \u201cRead the Book of Nature\u201d, Nouwen writes walking in a forest with friend and described walking in a foggy dense forest with colors and textures revealing themselves to them and walking suddenly into a clearing where they could see for miles and miles.\u00a0 Oh, if only we could see our path through leadership with such clarity, but to have God as our partners on the journey we do see miles and miles, and we know where it ends, it ends in his loving arms saying, \u201cwell done good and faithful servant, the kingdom of heaven is yours[8]<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n Glazner goes on to say leadership also embraces Learn, do and love. While there is not enough time to go through all of these, I encourage us all to make sure these words also speak into our leadership.\u00a0 I also challenge that we equally consider the benediction as a way to speak into our leadership now.\u00a0 When we are at the end of our Leadership journey, where do we want to be and who do we hope was on this path with us?\u00a0 As we consider derailment of our leadership, we must consider Jules Glanzer\u2019s words even more poignant to lead with contentment, to lead with gratitude, to lead with simplicity, to lead with smallness and to lead with focus.\u00a0 I cannot think of a better benediction then this thought as we are invited into our Doctor of Leadership learnings.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Glanzer, Jules. The Sound of Leadership;Kingdom notes to fine tune your life and influence. (<\/em>Texas, Invite Press, 2023) pg. 2<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Glazner, Jules. Pg 125<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Ibid, pg 128.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Glanzer, Jules. The Sound of Leadership; Kingdom notes to fine tune your life and influence. (<\/em>Texas, Invite Press, 2023) pg. 3<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Heard, Julian. How to be heard; Secrets for powerful speaking and listening. <\/em>(Florida, Mango Publishing, 2017). Pg36.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Glazner, Jules. Pg 4<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Nouwen, Henry. Discernment<\/em> (New York, HarperCollins, 2013). Pg 55<\/p>\n